The past decade has witnessed tremendous interest in the relatively small natural product resveratrol (1, FIG. 1) based primarily on its possession of a promising and selective array of in vitro and in vivo activity against a collection of disease states, including inflammation, heart disease, aging, and cancer [1]. In fact, its truly unique biochemical profile, coupled with its relatively high concentration in red wine (˜100 mM) and near absence in white varietals and grape juice, has led to the popularly held notion that resveratrol is the main protagonist for the so-called “French paradox” [2]. Amazingly, however, virtually no effort has been devoted to the large family of resveratrol-based oligomers (such as 2-8) [3] produced combinatorially by plants throughout the world in response to environmental stress, compounds which initial screening suggest should have unique, if not superior, activity profiles to resveratrol itself [4].